Employees may work according to a work schedule that varies in respect to either shift times, work locations, or both. For example, service personnel, such as a plumber or service technician, may consistently start their work shift at approximately the same time each day, but may work at different work locations. The employee may work at a number of different work locations or job sites in a given day, or over several days each week. For example, a service technician may work a number of days or weeks at one location, and then begin work at another location for another number of days. Thus, the employee may start and end their work day at the same times, but work at different locations during a shift.
Other employees, such as call agents, may work their shift at a common work location, but their shift times may vary. Frequently, call centers may schedule agents to start their shifts at slightly different times on different days to accommodate forecasted call volumes and other agents' schedules. Thus, these employees work in the same location, but start and/or end their shift at different times.
An employer may have a number of employees assigned for various shifts based on various factors, including projected work volumes, employment contracts, and productivity goals. For example, a call center may schedule its agents to work certain shifts based on planned goals and customer commitments. Thus, employee adherence to a work schedule is important for employers to meet their goals.
Employees, however, may not always adhere to a work schedule. This can be manifested in various ways. In some instances, employee may arrive late to a job site to begin their shift. If the employee is a call center agent and the work location is in a call center, the absence of the employee can be easily noted, both visually by a supervisor and by monitoring the agent's interaction with the call handling systems.
However, in other circumstances, monitoring the presence of an employee may not be so obvious. If the call center agent works at home, then visual monitoring may not be feasible. Similarly, for a plumber dispatched to service calls, visual monitoring by a supervisor may not be feasible. In such instances, failure to adhere to a work schedule may only be detected after a lengthy time period and may not be noticed by the employer until well after the fact, and may jeopardize meeting planned goals. Thus, additional approaches for monitoring employee adherence to a schedule are required.